World Series Game 7 Draws 51 Million Audience Members In the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
