The nail-biting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
