The nail-biting extended matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
