Fall Classic Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
