The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
