The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
