The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
