The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
