The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. 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 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
