The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.