The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program 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 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
