World Series Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
