The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
