The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
