The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
