The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
