The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
