The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
