The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
