The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
