The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series 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 eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
