Fall Classic Final Game Attracts 51M Audience Members In the United States, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
