The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
