The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
