The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
