The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
