The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
