The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million 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 week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
