World Series Game 7 Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.