The nail-biting extended clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
