Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51M Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.