The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
