Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51M Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
