The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
