World Series Game 7 Attracts 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic 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 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
