The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
