The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
