The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
