World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
