The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
