The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
