Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51M Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
