Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.