The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
