The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
