The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
