The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’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 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
