The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
