The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
