The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
