The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
