The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
