World Series Final Game Captures 51M Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
