The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
