The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
