The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
