The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members 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 most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
