The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
