The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
