The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
