The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
