The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
