The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
