The exciting extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average 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% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
