The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
