The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
