The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also 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% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
