The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
