The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
