The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
