The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
