Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51 Million Audience Members In the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
