The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
