Fall Classic Final Game Captures Over 50 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
