World Series Game 7 Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million 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 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
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 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
