The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their 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 game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
