The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
