The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
