The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
