The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
