The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
