The nail-biting extended matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
