The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
