The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
