Fall Classic Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
