The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
