The exciting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
