The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
