The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
