The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
