World Series Final Game Captures 51 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
