The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
