The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
