The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
