The exciting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
