World Series Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
