The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
