The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers 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 World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
