The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
