The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last 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 thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
