The nail-biting extended matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
