The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic 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 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
