The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
