The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
