The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
