The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
