The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
