World Series Final Game Captures 51M Audience Members In the US, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
