Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51M Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers 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 Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
