The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
