The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic 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 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
