Fall Classic Game 7 Captures Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Regions.
The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
