The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
