The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
