The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
