The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
