Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51M Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
