The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership 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 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
