The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
