Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51M Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
