World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
