The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
