The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
