The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
