The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership 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 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
