Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51M Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.