The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
