Fall Classic Game 7 Captures 51M Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
