The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
