The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
