The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
