The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
