The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members 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 stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, 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 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series 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 versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
