Fall Classic Game 7 Captures 51 Million Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.