The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
