The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
