Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51M Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.