Fall Classic Final Game Attracts Over 50 Million Audience Members In the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
