The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
