The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
