The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members 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 Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
