Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51M Audience Members In the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
