The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
