World Series Final Game Draws 51M Viewers Across the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.