The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over 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 seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
