The exciting extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
