Fall Classic Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Audience Members In the US, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched 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 Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
