World Series Final Game Captures 51M Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The nail-biting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
