The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
