The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
