The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
