The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
