The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
