The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
