The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
