The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
