The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
