The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall 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 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
