The exciting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
