The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million 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 best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
