The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
