The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
