The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
