The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
