The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
