The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
