Fall Classic Final Game Attracts 51M Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
