World Series Game 7 Captures 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.