The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
