The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
