The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.