The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, 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 seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
