The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
