Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51 Million Audience Members In the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
