The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
