World Series Game 7 Draws 51 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
