Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51M Audience Members Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
