The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet 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 deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
