The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
