The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
