The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
