Fall Classic Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Audience Members In the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
