The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
