The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
