The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
