The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
