The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
