Fall Classic Game 7 Captures 51 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
