The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
