The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.