Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts Over 50 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
