The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
