The thrilling extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
