The nail-biting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
