World Series Game 7 Attracts 51 Million Viewers In the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
