The exciting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
