The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
