The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
