Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51 Million Audience Members In the US, Canada and Japan Regions.
The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
