The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
