The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
