The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
