The World Series ended in heartbreak for the Blue Jays and their fans, but Canada’s Sportsnet ended the Fall Classic with unprecedented viewership.
The network said Monday that it averaged 10.9 million viewers for Saturday’s Game 7, representing not only the largest audience for a Blue Jays broadcast in its history, but the most-watched broadcast of any type for Sportsnet parent company Rogers Communications. The game, won by the Dodgers to claim a second-straight title, was the latest in a string of viewership records that began in the American League Championship Series and continued through the World Series.
Friday’s Game 6, meanwhile, averaged 9.4 million viewers, another record that only stood for 24 hours until the deciding contest. For the entire seven-game World Series, Sportsnet averaged 7.5 million viewers, setting four different club records along the way for television audiences.
Game 7, peaking at an average of 14 million viewers in the bottom of the ninth inning, was also the most-watched English-language broadcast ever in Canada outside of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Throughout the World Series, that Sportsnet audience reached 45% of the entire Canadian population at least in some fashion, a level of penetration seen on U.S. television only for the latter stages of the NFL playoffs.
This massive Canadian viewership during the Blue Jays’ run became a major storyline throughout the MLB playoffs as the country was engaged with baseball in a whole new way. It’s also a boon for Rogers Communications, the Canadian communications and entertainment giant that owns both the Blue Jays and Sportsnet, and is increasingly looking to sports as a key element of its overall corporate strategy.
Looking ahead, the Blue Jays are likely to be a significant player in the upcoming MLB free-agent market.
In the U.S., meanwhile, Fox said Monday that initial, fast national ratings for Game 7 registered an average audience of 25.98 million across all platforms, representing the most-watched World Series game since 2017. Final U.S. data from Fox and Nielsen, reflecting Big Data + Panel measurements, is expected on Tuesday.
