The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
