The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
