The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
