Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts Over 50 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.

The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.

Broadcast Ratings Breakdown

The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.

It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.

In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.

International Viewership Numbers

In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.

In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.

Overall Averages and Patterns

The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.

Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.

The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.

MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.