The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
