The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
