The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
