The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
