The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
