World Series Final Game Attracts Over 50 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
