Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51M Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
