The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
