The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
