The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver 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 sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
