The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
