The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
