The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
