The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
