The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
