Fall Classic Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
