World Series Final Game Captures 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
