The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
