The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
