The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
