The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.