The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
