The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
