The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
