The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. 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 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
