The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
