The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
