The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, 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 Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.