The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
