The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
