The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports 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 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
