The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M 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 World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
