Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33 million 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 is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
