The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
