The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game 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 audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
