The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise 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 consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
