The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
