World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
