The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
