The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between 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 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
