The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
