Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51M Audience Members Across the United States, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
