The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
