As a long-time baseball enthusiast who has followed the sport both stateside and across the Pacific, I can wholeheartedly say that the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees is undeniably a game-changer for global baseball fandom. The sheer magnitude of viewership in Japan, particularly around the star power of Shohei Ohtani, has catapulted the sport to unprecedented popularity levels in the Land of the Rising Sun.
For many years, Japan has been deeply passionate about baseball, yet the debut of Shohei Ohtani in the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers has sparked an unprecedented surge in the sport’s popularity within the country.
In Japan, approximately 12% of the population tuned in to watch an average of 15.9 million viewers for the second game of the World Series featuring the Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
The thrilling 4-2 win by the Dodgers against the Yankees in Game 1, highlighted by an impressive pitching performance from Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto and causing anxiety among fans as Ohtani had to leave due to a shoulder injury in the 7th inning, became the most-viewed Major League Baseball postseason game in Japan’s history.
For the first time, Japan surpassed the United States as the second-largest market for baseball on TV during the game, with approximately 13.8 million viewers tuning in. Despite having a much larger population of over 346 million people, viewership data from Major League Baseball and Fox Corp.’s sports division showed that fewer Americans watched the game compared to the Japanese audience.
In Japan, the first two games of the series began at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays because it’s 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles. These games are broadcasted within the nation by Fuji TV, NHK BS, and J Sports.
It was revealed that Ohtani will participate in Game 3 of the World Series, taking place in New York. This means that a massive number of Japanese spectators will once more tune in to watch.
As a passionate gamer, I’ve been absolutely hooked on the epic clash between the two heavyweights of baseball – the Dodgers and the Yankees. This battle is not only breaking records for Fox Sports, but it’s also drawing audiences not seen since the 2017 World Series! What’s even more exciting is that viewers aged 18 to 34, a group advertisers are always eyeing, have surged an impressive 93% during this series. To top it all off, social media views and engagement have reached record-breaking heights in World Series history, as reported by the league itself. This is truly a game worth tuning in for!
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-10-29 05:24