World Series Final Game Draws 51M Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.