The thrilling extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
