The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
