The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
