The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
