The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
