World Series finale was the largest international broadcast in baseball history

Major League Baseball (MLB) executives say the 2025 World Series has become the largest international broadcast in the sport's history after growing interest from both Canadian and Japanese audiences.

An average of about 37 million people watched Game 7 between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers, according to Sportsnet and preliminary data from Fox. This includes 10.9 million viewers across Canada. According to Rogers Communications, parent company of Sportsnet, it was the biggest game in network historywith 18.5 million Canadians tuning in to the championship decider at some point.

Toronto Star noted that the audience is likely larger in Japan, which has recorded higher viewership numbers for several previous World Series games; The first game averaged 11.4 million viewers in Japan, compared to 7 million in Canada.

According to Toronto Star, A league source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said early projections indicate the show could have its largest global audience since 1991, when the Minnesota Twins lost to the Atlanta Braves in seven games.

The league's Japanese audience has grown steadily for decades, according to MLB senior vice president of global media partnerships Dominic Balsano. However, Japanese stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, etc. have “taken it to the next level,” with Balsano also adding that the Japanese audience is “unprecedented right now.”

As part of its broadcast agreements with MLB, Sportsnet was allowed to produce its own Blue Jays-focused broadcast. The Japanese broadcaster NHK was allowed to conduct its own broadcasting, focused on the Japanese language. Ryan Zander, MLB's senior vice president of broadcasting, said he easily found more than 100 cameras, compared to a regional game where there are typically seven to 10 cameras.

Source: Toronto Star

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