The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
