The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
