The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
