The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
