The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
