The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 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 total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
