Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51M Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.