The exciting extended clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
