The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
