The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 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 playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
