The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
