The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.