World Series Game 7 Draws 51M Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
