The exciting extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
