The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
