Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts Over 50 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
