The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
