The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
