The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
