The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
