The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
