The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
