The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
