The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up 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 Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
