The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
