The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
