The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
