The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
