The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
