The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
