The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
