The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
