The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
