The nail-biting extended clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
