The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single 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 Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
