Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The exciting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
