The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
