World Series Game 7 Draws 51 Million Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
