The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 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 the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
