The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
