The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
