The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after 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 highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
