The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
