The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million 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 contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
