The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
