Fall Classic Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers In the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
