The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
