World Series Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
