The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
