The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
