The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
