World Series Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
