World Series Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.