The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
