The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
