The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game 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 complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
