Fall Classic Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
