Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
