The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
