The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
