The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
