The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
