The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
