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The nail-biting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.

Broadcast Ratings Breakdown

Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.

It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.

In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.

Global Audience Figures

In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver 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 last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.

Overall Totals and Trends

The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.

Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.

The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.

MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.