The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and 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 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World 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 Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
