The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
