The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
