The exciting extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
