The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
