World Series Game 7 Draws 51 Million Viewers In the US, Canada and Japan Regions.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
