The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
