The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
