The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
