Fall Classic Game 7 Captures Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
