Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where 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 sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
