The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
