The nail-biting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million 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 started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
