Fall Classic Final Game Captures Over 50 Million Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
