Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51 Million Viewers In the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The exciting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet 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 deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American 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 complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
