The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
