The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
