Fall Classic Game 7 Captures 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
