The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
