The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
