The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
