The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
