The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 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 ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
