The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
