The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
