The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
