The exciting extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
