The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
