The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
