The nail-biting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million 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 most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
