The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
