Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
