The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
