The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
