The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
