The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.