The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
