The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
