The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
