The nail-biting extended matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
