The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
