The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
