World Series Game 7 Captures 51M Audience Members In the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
