The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
