The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
