The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
