The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
