Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.