World Series Final Game Draws 51M Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP 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 the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
