Fall Classic Game 7 Captures Over 50 Million Viewers In the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
