The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
