Ohtanimania Lifts World Series TV Ratings to Record Levels in Japan

Japan has been baseball-obsessed for generations, however Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani‘s first World Collection is powering the sport to unseen ranges of recognition within the nation. 

The second sport of the World Collection between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees attracted a mean of 15.9 million viewers in Japan, round 12 p.c of the inhabitants.

The Dodgers’ stirring 4-2 victory over the Yankees — which featured a powerful sport of pitching by Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, however had followers holding their breath when Ohtani exited within the seventh inning with a shoulder harm — was the most-watched MLB postseason sport ever in Japan.

The U.S. truly slipped beneath Japan for the primary time because the second-biggest TV marketplace for baseball in the course of the sport. About 13.8 million viewers within the U.S. — residence to a a lot bigger inhabitants of 346 million — watched the sport, based on knowledge launched Monday by Main League Baseball and Fox Corp.’s sports activities division.

Japan is 16 hours forward of Los Angeles, so the primary two video games of the collection began at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday morning there. The video games are being aired within the nation by Fuji TV, NHK BS and J Sports activities.

The Dodgers introduced that Ohtani will play in Sport 3 of the World Collection in New York, making certain that Japanese followers will once more be watching in huge numbers. 

The high-profile showdown between the 2 most precious franchises in baseball — the Dodgers and the Yankees — has turn into a scores bonanza for Fox Sports activities, which is airing the video games stateside. To this point, viewership is on monitor to hit highs not seen for the reason that 2017 World Collection. Maybe extra importantly for the sport’s future, viewership amongst 18 to 34 year-olds, a coveted demographic for advertisers, is up 93 p.c this collection, based on Nielsen. And social media views (345 million) and engagement (25 million) have been the best in World Collection historical past, based on the league.