The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
