The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
