The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
