World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
