Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51M Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
