The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full 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 after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
