The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
