The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
