The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
