Fall Classic Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Viewers In the US, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.