The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
