The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
