The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
