The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
