The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
