The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
