Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts Over 50 Million Viewers In the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total 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 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
