The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
