Fall Classic Game 7 Attracts 51M Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
