The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
