The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
