World Series Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
