The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
