The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
