The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
