The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
