The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
