The exciting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
