The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
