The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
