The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million 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 also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
