The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
