The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, 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 TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
