The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
