The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
