Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51M Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
