The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
