The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
