The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
