The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
