The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
