World Series Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 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 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
