The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
