The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
