The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
