The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
