The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
