The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
