The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
