Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
