The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
