The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
