The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
