The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
