The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
