The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
