The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 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 week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
