The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
