The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
