The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
