World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 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 and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
