World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
