The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
