The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
