The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 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 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
