The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic 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 averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
