The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
