Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts Over 50 Million Audience Members In the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.