World Series Final Game Attracts 51M Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.