The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 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 broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
