Fall Classic Game 7 Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The exciting extended matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.