The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
