The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
