The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
