The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
