The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
