The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
