The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
