The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
