The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
