Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
