The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete 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 full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
