The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
