The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes 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 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
