The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
