The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
