The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
