The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
