The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
