The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
