The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
