The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
