World Series Final Game Attracts 51M Audience Members In the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
