The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
