The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
