The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
