The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
