The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
