The nail-biting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
