The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
