The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
