The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
