The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
