The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
