The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
