The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 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 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
