Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
