The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
