Fall Classic Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
