Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
