The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
