The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
