The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
