The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
