The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
