The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
