The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
