World Series Game 7 Draws 51M Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.