The nail-biting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
