The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
