World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japan Regions.
The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
