The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
