Fall Classic Final Game Attracts 51M Audience Members In the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
