The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
