The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
