The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
