The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
