The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
