The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
