The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
