The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
