The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
