World Series Final Game Attracts Over 50 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
