The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
