The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
