Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
