The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
