Fall Classic Final Game Captures Over 50 Million Viewers In the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
